Anyway to make IE secure??

[debian0001]

I've grown accustomed to IE again since I used it at work.. but at home I use FF but I've kind of grown sick of it... is it possible to use IE and keep it secure? Anyone know of any guides?

 

[corkyg]

If you have all of the IE11 updates, it should be AOK. I use it all the time and have no security problems.

 

[Red Squirrel]

You can use IE to download another browser, like Firefox, Chrome or Opera.

But seriously though it seems no browsers are secure anymore, because of javascript. Javascript allows too much stuff. That and plugins like flash and pdf, but at least those can be disabled. Try to disable javascript and most sites won't even load. Noscript is very cubbersome to use because of that but it is an option.

 

[Dude111]

Yes keeping javascript disabled is a good idea ON ANY BROWSER!!

I use IE6 (MyIE2 in front) and I 99.9% have them disabled! (Only enable if I need them (tinyupload.com for example))

 

[PeckingOrder]

Yes keeping javascript disabled is a good idea ON ANY BROWSER!!

I use IE6 (MyIE2 in front) and I 99.9% have them disabled! (Only enable if I need them (tinyupload.com for example))

lol

 

[mxnerd]

Install uBlock origin on Chrome & Firefox and you have a lot less problem.

Disable Javascript is not practical, too many websites depends on it.

 

[TheRyuu]

That and plugins like flash and pdf, but at least those can be disabled.

Perhaps the Adobe PDF reader plugin, but most browsers offer built-in pdf readers now. Chrome's built-in reader now runs as an out-of-process plugin in a sandbox as restrictive as the renderer processes. Flash can be set to "click to play" (although it's technically not actually click to play since that would be vulnerable to scripting) and again on Chrome runes in a more restrictive sandbox than the other browsers.

Try to disable javascript and most sites won't even load.

Disabling all javascript may very well mean this is true. However if you only disable third-party javascript than you gain a lot in terms of protection against the bad things but also have less of a chance of breaking things. See below.

Noscript is very cubbersome to use because of that but it is an option.

If you think NoScript is cumbersome to use than check out dynamic filtering in uBlock Origin[1]. What's called "medium mode" in the documentation[2] gives the most bang for your buck and shouldn't get in your way too much. I also think the interface of uBlock (or uMatrix[3] for that matter) is more inuitive than NoScript but that's just me.

I think that browsers can be secure it's just that we look at security differently now than we did before. We've also become more concerned about privacy as well but these are two different although related issues for browsers. Chrome's defense in depth approach offers the best that's available through a combination of their sandboxing and your operating system's mitigation technologies[4].

[1] https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock#installation
[2] https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Blocking-mode:-medium-mode
[3] https://github.com/gorhill/uMatrix#umatrix
[4] https://dev.chromium.org/developers/design-documents/sandbox (Windows specific)

 

[TheRyuu]

I've grown accustomed to IE again since I used it at work.. but at home I use FF but I've kind of grown sick of it... is it possible to use IE and keep it secure? Anyone know of any guides?

Depending in your operating system, if you go to Internet Options and the advanced tab(?) you can scroll down to security(?) and enable "Enhanced Protected Mode" and "Use 64-bit processes for protected mode". On Windows 8+ this will enable IE11 to use the AppContainer sandbox even on the desktop version of the browser. You can also disable third-party cookies which generally shouldn't break anything.

Sorry about the (?) question marks but I can't look it up right now to be sure, I'm doing this just based on memory at the moment.

If you're not a fan of Firefox than instead of IE maybe check out Chrome[1]. With actual extension support and better defense in depth security you may like it. I can't say it feels like IE11 but it should feel different from Firefox and that seems to be what you're looking for.

[1] https://www.google.com/chrome/browser/?platform=win64 (for 64-bit Windows versions)